AMHERST - One of the biggest hockey hotbeds in the U.S. is the state of Minnesota and Amherst's Josh Pugsley will land smack dab in the middle of that hotbed Sunday after he flies to Faribault, Minn., where, on Monday, he will have a hockey tryout at Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school.
Pugsley was invited for a tryout at the school after he filled out an 11-page player profile and wrote a 500-word essay.
"I want to go down there and show them my all-around game," Pugsley said.
Pugsley turns 14 in July and if he were accepted to the school, he would begin attending in September.
The Grade 8, E.B. Chandler student will be trying out at a school which boasts "two expansive, wooded academic campuses and a complete athletic complex, which includes one newly constructed ice arena and one renovated ice rink, eight tennis courts, a gymnasium, basketball courts, an all-weather track, an extensive weight training facility, a new synthetic turf outdoor field, and a field house for year-round field sports," according to the school's website.
Shattuck-St. Mary's, which is a 45-minute drive south of Minneapolis-St. Paul, also boasts several alumni who have played in the NHL, including Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby of Cole Harbour, who attended the school for the 2002-03 season.
"It's a nationally recognized school and it's really hockey orientated and I like to be around hockey, so I thought it would be something to look at," said Pugsley.
Josh's father Stephen said that Josh "was on a kick to apply to some schools or go visit some schools but Shattuck-St. Mary's enticed him because of the history of it."
The school is home to 250 students in Grades 9 through 12 and it has four midget, two bantam and two girls teams.
Pugsley is spending this season at the bantam AAA level with the Truro Bearcats.
In 19 games, he's scored 15 goals and 12 assists, which leaves him tied for second in rookie scoring and seventh overal in the Mainland Bantam AAA Hockey League.
Pugsley figures he'll find out whether or not he's been accepted before the end of the school year.
Though he hasn't spent a lot of time away from home, he said going to school in Minnesota shouldn't bother him.
"I'm on the road a lot so I'll be used to it, I think."